1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and in particular to an improved upper hinge frame for a refrigerator capable of firmly supporting a refrigerator door, thus preventing a refrigerator from having a gap between the door and a main body thereof.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Generally, as shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerator is mainly composed of a main body 10 for storing foods, a door 30 movably fixed to the main body 10 and opening/closing an interior of the refrigerator, and a hinge frame unit 50 for fixedly supporting the door 30 so as for the door 30 to be movably fixed to the main body 30.
The hinge frame unit 50 includes an upper hinge frame 500 fixedly connected with a front edge of a top surface of the main body 10 and fixedly supporting the door 30 from the top so that the door 30 may be rotatable, and a lower hinge frame 600 fixedly connected with a front edge of a bottom surface of the main body 10 and fixedly supporting the door 30 from the bottom so that the door 30 may be rotatable.
As shown in FIG. 2, the upper hinge frame 500 includes: a hinge supporting body 510 of a plate shape formed at the front edge of the top surface of the main body 10 as a single body; an upper hinge 530 downwardly fitted to the hinge supporting body 510 and having a connecting portion 531 which is protruded from a rear end portion thereof and inserted into a portion of the hinge supporting body 510, and having one side thereof which is incurvated; and a -shape hinge attaching lever 550 downwardly fitted to the upper hinge 530 and thus connecting the upper hinge 530 and the main body 10.
The hinge supporting body 510 includes a pair of connecting holes 511 which are formed lengthwise in a center part thereof, and a pair of -type connection control portions 513 which are formed lengthwise in an upright position at right and left sides of the connecting holes 511, each of which has a connecting groove 513a so as to receive the hinge attaching lever 550.
In addition, at a rear end portion of the hinge supporting body 510, a link portion 515 having an insertion hole 515a in a center part thereof is erectly formed in order to receive the connecting portion 531 of the upper hinge 530.
The upper hinge 530 includes a pair of connecting protrusions 533 which are downwardly protruded from a center portion of a lower surface thereof so as to respectively correspond to the connecting holes 511 of the hinge supporting body 510, and a hinge pin 535 which is downwardly protruded from a center part of a front end portion of a lower surface thereof so as to support the door 30 to rotatably move by being inserted into a hinge groove (not shown) formed at the door 30.
The hinge attaching lever 550 includes: an operation lever 551 of a plate shape so as for an user to simply handle the lever; an attaching plate 553 formed by which one end portion of the operation lever 551 is downwardly bent by 90 degrees and tightly attaching or separating the upper hinge 530 to/from the hinge supporting body 510 in accordance with a rotation of the operation lever 551; and a connecting protrusion 553a which is widthwise protruded from each side portion of the attaching plate 553 so as to be rotatably inserted into the corresponding connecting groove 513a of the connection control portions 513 disposed at the hinge supporting body 510.
An operation for combining each unit of the conventional upper hinge frame 500 will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3A, first, the connecting portion 531 protruded from the rear end portion of the upper hinge 530 is inserted into the link portion 515 of the hinge supporting body 510 formed at the front edge of the top surface of the main body 10 as a single body, and simultaneously the pair of connecting protrusions 533 downwardly protruded from the center portion of the lower surface of the upper hinge 530 are respectively inserted into the pair of connecting holes 511 formed at the hinge supporting body 510, for thereby connecting the upper hinge 530 to the hinge supporting body 510.
Next, the connecting protrusion 553a which is widthwise protruded from each side portion of the attaching plate 553 of the hinge attaching lever 550 is inwardly inserted into the corresponding connecting grooves 513a of the hinge supporting body 510, on condition that the operation lever 551 of the hinge attaching lever 550 is vertically in an upward position, and the operation lever 551 is downwardly rotated by 90 degrees towards the link portion 515 of the hinge supporting body 510.
Here, when the operation lever 551 is downwardly rotated by 90 degrees, the attaching plate 553 presses down the upper hinge 530 while rotating, and thus the upper hinge 530 is tightly attached to the hinge supporting body 510.
The hinge pin 535 which is downwardly protruded from the center of the front end portion of the upper hinge 530 is inserted into the hinge groove (not shown) formed at the door 30, thereby completing the operation for combining each of the conventional upper hinge frame 500.
FIG. 3B illustrates the upper hinge 530 is being separated from the hinge supporting body 510 by which the operation lever 551 of the hinge attaching lever 550 is upwardly rotated by 90 degrees. Here, since an operation for separating the upper hinge 530 from the hinge supporting body 510 is carried out in an opposite order of the operation for combining the upper hinge 530 and the hinge supporting body 510, the description therefor will be omitted.
However, in the conventional upper hinge frame, a distance between the connecting protrusion and each corner of the attaching plate, which presses and tightly attaches the upper hinge to the hinge supporting body, is fixed, and the attaching plate is a plate-shape formed by which one end portion of the operation lever is downwardly bent by 90 degrees, thus the upper hinge is not firmly attached to the hinge supporting body.
Accordingly, a gap between the main body and the door is made in the course of time, and therefore unnecessary power is consumed.